


Skin Deep

by inksheddings



Category: Loveless
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-12
Updated: 2008-03-12
Packaged: 2017-10-17 10:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inksheddings/pseuds/inksheddings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skin deep isn't necessarily a <i>bad</i> thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skin Deep

The skin on Ritsuka's back is smooth, soft, and slightly freckled. The first time Soubi saw this - the first time he saw Ritsuka's bare back - he wanted nothing more than to trace a line from freckle to freckle and find out where it would lead him.

He didn't, of course, because Ritsuka would have yelled and told him to leave him alone, maybe even leave his room altogether. Soubi had clasped his hands behind his back to keep the temptation at bay, and he didn't get yelled at– well, not for playing connect-the-dots with Ritsuka's freckles.

Since that first time, Soubi has seen Ritsuka's back, his arms, his legs, his belly, and pretty much every part of his Sacrifice's body. He changed his clothes to pajamas when he was too exhausted to do it for himself. He bathed him when he was sick with fever. He held on tightly to his waist and hips and his very own sanity as Ritsuka pushed into him for the first time.

Yet it was months after Ritsuka gave him his ears and tail before Soubi finally placed a finger on one tiny freckle and traced a zig-zagging line from shoulder blade to the small of his back. Then he started over, taking a different route that started in the middle and ended up in almost the same exact spot. He realized it wasn't unlike painting; those times when a picture formed on the canvas seemingly of its own accord. This made Soubi wonder what he could create if he chose his path carefully.

He started over, this time painting the picture in his mind before reproducing it on Ritsuka's skin. It was surprisingly easy, turning the freckles into patterns that suited his needs, so he did it again, altering the image over and over until Ritsuka began to laugh into the pillow.

"I can read, you know," he said, turning his face upwards to smile and roll his eyes at Soubi.

"Can you now?" Soubi teased as he continued tracing lines and curves that made him almost as happy as Ritsuka's simple presence did.

Ritsuka continued to smile, but the look in his eyes turned gentle and serious, and Soubi's finger faltered slightly before finding its way again.

"I...me, too, Soubi," Ritsuka said quietly before rolling over onto his back and pulling Soubi down into a kiss that said all the same things Soubi had tried to express with Ritsuka's freckles and his own modest talents – _I love you, I need you, I'll never leave you, I'll always_ always _be here for you._

One could argue that Soubi's words had only been skin deep. The weight of their meaning, however, was anything but; far more substantial than the scars around Soubi's neck and even more permanent than any of the freckles on Ritsuka's back. They'd had little to no control over those, after all, but what they made of them now was totally up to them. If that was skin deep...

Soubi smiled against Ritsuka's lips. He could live with that.

 **END**   



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